From: "George Kinney" <goober AT mail DOT net>
Subject: Re: Check out my demo game!
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp,rec.games.programmer
References: <33e62ef4 DOT 15019110 AT news DOT eunet DOT be> <01bca11c$5384ce60$45025cc3 AT neverworks->
Organization: The Unknown Programmers
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Date: 5 Aug 97 07:05:10 GMT
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Gareth Davies <gareth AT spamguard DOT davies DOT discovery-net DOT co DOT uk (please remove
the spamguard bit!)> wrote in article
<01bca11c$5384ce60$45025cc3 AT neverworks->...
> One other point. I would be interested in everyone's opinion of Allegro.
I
> can't actually use it because I use Watcom, but is it really sensible to
> use this library (as good as it might be). Aren't people missing out on
the
> learning experience which would otherwise be gained by doing these things
> yourself ??? as well as a lost ability later on to optimise the codeto
your
> needs (I know you get the source, but if you don't understand it, you
can't
> optimise it). I'm not looking for flames, just genuine opinions.

Well, there are tradeoffs of course.

Personally, I use Allegro when I'm prototyping, or when I'm in need 
(real or imagined :) of functionality I'm not familiar with. (Like 
tinkering in high-res VESA modes) I don't do games, and Allegro has
been far easier for me to use than GRX. (which is a very capable
library, but more obtuse)

As for being suitable for games, well sure. Allegro's performance is
actually
quite good. And since you have the source code, you can piece together the 
pieces that are adequate, and customize wherever you need to, if you need
to.

Also, Allegro is useful for many things other than games. What about
graphics
editors, CAD-like packages, or anything else that needs to display data
minus
the killing badguys parts? Even if you are writing a game, and Allegro
isn't 
giving the performance you need, it would still be extremely useful for 
prototyping. You could debug the game logic first, and hit the display 
performance later. (And probably find many parts that are well worth
keeping)

It's a good learning tool. The source is clearly written, so it's easy to
follow. 
(once again, source is provided, for free even!)

And yes, if people depend solely on libs, they miss out on many things. And
as
for games, then they'll probably not get very far. But I think anybody who
is
serious about programming is likely the type who will be curious enough,
(or enough of a control freak, that's me :) to want to know how things are 
being done.

And on a last note, using libraries isn't all that bad. I use C all the
time, and
have little inclination to re-write the standard libs. :)

-----------------------------
George Kinney
gkinney (AT) usa (DOT) net
These opinions are definately mine, but may not be water-soluable.